It is often necessary and desirable to electrically connect one component to another component. For example, a multi-terminal component, such as a connector, is often electrically connected to a substrate, such as a printed circuit board, so that the terminals of the component are securely attached to contact pads formed on the substrate to provide an electrical connection therebetween. One preferred technique for securely attaching the component terminals to the contact pads is to use a solder material around a particular area, such as a hole, which typically receives one component terminal. Often, the component terminals may be in the form of conductive pins which are received within the holes formed in the substrate. The solder material, e.g., solder paste, is generally applied around each contact hole and then heated after the conductive pin is received within and extends through the contact hole. The heating of the solder paste causes the solder paste to flow around the conductive pin and the contact hole. The cooling of the solder paste results in the conductive pin being securely attached to one of the contact pads formed on the substrate.
While the use of solder paste is effective in some applications, there are a number of applications in which the use of solder paste is not desirable due to a number of factors, including but not limited to the design of both the component terminals and the substrate itself. In addition, the use of solder paste generally does not provide a sufficient volume of solder to properly join the component terminals and the contact pads.
One alternative approach to the use of solder paste is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,546, which is assigned to the assignee hereof and which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. The device set forth in this reference comprises an array of solder-holding clips which is readily applied manually or by automation to a corresponding array of connector or other component terminals. The clips are typically formed by a die stamping operation which results in an increase in cost and complexity of the overall soldering operation.
It is therefore desirable to provide an alternative device and method for applying solder to connectors or the like.